Instead, Fournette (a potential top-5 pick in the 2017 NFL Draft assuming he leaves early) essentially has just one year left to achieve his ultimate dreams and carve out a college legacy for all time.

Luckily, Fournette’s individual and team goals go hand in hand.

For instance, even if Fournette has a monster campaign, averaging 190-plus yards and two touchdowns every Saturday, but LSU doesn’t win the SEC West title … the junior-to-be has no shot at sinking Sanders’ record. (It’s a numbers game.)

However, if Fournette can help the Tigers (loaded with playmaking veterans and NFL-caliber defenders) capture the SEC West crown, win the conference championship and advance to the finals of the four-team College Football Playoff … then he could realistically smash perhaps the greatest seasonal achievement of the last 50 years.

15 games: Average of 175.3 yards14 games: Average of 187.7 yards13 games: Average of 202.2 yards12 games: Average of 219.1 yards

(In case you’re wondering … Sanders required only 11 games during his Heisman Trophy-winning season to reach 2,628 rushing yards.)

Of course, for Fournette to be extra motivated at every turn this fall, he’ll need a worthy adversary. Enter Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey, who amassed an absurd 2,019 rushing yards, 2,664 total yards and 13 touchdowns last season — highlighted by the versatile dissection of Iowa in the Rose Bowl (277 total yards and two scores).

McCaffrey’s West Coast presence automatically gives this upcoming Heisman race some phenomenal juice. It should also help Fournette realize that last year’s sublime highlights (listed below) might not be enough to outdistance McCaffrey in the end.

In that sense, it’s cool that Fournette and LSU have a narrow margin of error this fall. If the Tigers cannot beat the likes of Alabama, Texas A&M, Florida, Ole Miss and Wisconsin, among others, then nothing else really matters, legacy-wise.

FOURNETTE’S 2015 HIGHLIGHTS

**At least 150 rushing yards in his first seven outings.

**Nine total games of 150-plus rushing yards.

**Twelve outings of at least one touchdown (14 of 15 games with at least one touchdown, dating back to 2014).